Red Rum
by Talithi
Summary: -HIATUS- ZAG-Rs has taken control of Providence, Rex is traumatized from nearly killing Holiday, Van Kleiss is determined to get Rex at all costs, Breach is switching sides, and Six is just trying to keep everything from falling apart completely.
1. Absolute Anarchy

**A/N: **The title for this was taken from my favorite movie ever that my possibly batshit crazy mother let me watch when I was like eight or something:_ The Shining_. I loved how murder became red rum. Its like a bloody alcoholic beverage. How cool is THAT? 8D

EDIT: Alright, since this is now officially a chapter story I have added a title to this and removed the **..::Epilogue::.. **so that it is just a regular time-skip at the end.

* * *

Red Rum

Absolute Anarchy

As soon as Rex opened his eyes he saw blood.

Sticky, crimson blood that was splattered all over everything and everyone. The equipment, the walls, the lifeless Providence agents, everything. It was even oozing down from the cracked ceiling overhead. A few drops landed on Rex's forehead, causing him to quickly roll over onto his left side to avoid more. When he did pain instantly rocketed up his left arm and he rolled again to get his weight off of it. Standing unsteadily from the broken floor, Rex looked down at his throbbing limb and saw a slash running the entire length from his elbow down to his wrist. The skin around it was hanging in strips like it had been shredded and under all the blood Rex could see it was quickly turning purple.

The teen Evo swallowed hard and blinked back the tears that formed in his chocolate colored eyes. Crying wasn't an option, crying was never an option; it never solved anything or helped anyone. As he walked further into the destroyed aerial-base – holding his injured arm close to his chest – the tears returned and threatened to spill over at what he saw. Sparks flew from ruined machines, water sprayed from busted pipes, lights flickered like they were straight out of a bad disaster movie and there was a faint smell of smoke in the rancid air. Still, the worst part was the mangled corpses of the Providence agents that were scattered everywhere and that prompted Rex's gag reflex. As he began to see the full extent of the damage the boy became aware of how fortunate he was to have actually survived the crash and was mortified that nobody else had been that lucky.

'_Nobody?_'

Rex suddenly felt a wave of sheer terror wash over his body as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks: Six, Holiday and Bobo were on the airship somewhere. The pain in his arm seemed to dissipate at the same time the urge to cry was snuffed out as his mind focused solely on the safety of his friends. A determined look appeared on the teen's face as he took off at full speed through the macabre scene, screaming their names over and over, searching desperately for a sign they were still alive somewhere as he ran through the entire base.

The further he ran the worse the damage seemed to get and the more frequent the dead bodies were. Rex did his best to ignore it all, to stay on task, but it wasn't easy. When he hit the end of an especially wrecked corridor the fifteen-year-old spun around and dashed for the nearest door, quickly unlocking it with his nanites and running through to another hallway. He sprinted for the first door, opened it and launched himself through. Then stopped dead in his tracks at seeing what was in the room. Or rather, _who _was in room.

Lying completely still in the middle of what looked like a medbay – surrounded by nameless agents' lifeless bodies and partially covered by a large machine of some sort – was Agent Six. He was entirely too pale for comfort and bleeding heavily from a large gash across his forehead. From the looks of it he was unconscious and Rex couldn't see whether or not he was breathing.

"Six!" the teen yelled, darting over and turning his right hand to metal before easily lifting the contraption off his caretaker's lower half and throwing it clear across the room. Switching his hand back to normal, he checked frantically for a pulse, then sighed in relief when his gloved fingers found one. "Hey," Rex took the agent gently by his shoulders, lightly shaking him, "Wake up. C'mon, Six. Snap out of it," he shook him more firmly, "Six. Wake_ up_!" Rex felt the entire base lurch suddenly as something exploded in the distance. There wasn't any time to sit around doing nothing. As unstable as the place was it could come down on them and/or _blow up_ at any second. This realization brought with it a new sense of panic and urgency. "Try not to hate me for this," Rex said to the unresponsive man before backhanding him across the face.

Due to the sunglasses he knew better than to remove, Rex couldn't see when the agent opened his eyes, only being able to tell when he woke up by the low groan that emitted from between his cracked lips. Six propped up on his elbows, groggily cocking a slick eyebrow at Rex. "What was that for?"

"Had to wake you up," Rex shrugged, secretly relieved he wasn't in a _coma_ or something, "Sorry."

Six sat up fully, taking in the mess around them until the blood flowing from his lesion ran down into his eyes. He turned his head away from Rex, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, removed his sunglasses for just an instant, wiped at the blood and then replaced them. Under normal circumstances Rex would have tried to sneak a peak at his caretaker's eyes, but now the thought didn't even cross his mind.

"Who hit us?" the agent asked, as professional as ever, as he held the handkerchief to the large cut to stem the blood flow.

"Not sure," Rex answered, surveying the room quickly. "But whoever it was, they wanted to take us out." A beat. "Bad." They were definitely in a medbay, which was considerably lucky in their current condition. Running over to a steel cabinet that was still halfway standing, the teenager began searching through the medical supplies. Six stood up slowly, watching Rex the whole time, and limped painfully over to a nearby table. His ankle seemed to be sprained but thankfully not broken. Six turned his attention to the gory mess around him. The damage in this one room alone was immense, it was almost completely turned on its head and everyone else in the room but him had been killed. This didn't look like a regular shoot down… Six tried unsuccessfully to shake the thought as Rex came back over carrying some bandages, antiseptic and few strips of cloth. He placed them on the table Six was leaning against and stepped back.

"Head wounds bleed a lot, Rex," the man stated stoically in response to the worried look on his charge's face. He took the antiseptic and poured a little onto one of the cloths before placing it to his forehead, easily suppressing a wince at the burning pain. "You'll need to take care of that arm," he nodded towards the bloodied wound Rex was sporting, "or you'll bleed to death."

Rex looked down at the appendage nervously; he hadn't realized how much blood he was actually loosing. Now that he thought about it he did feel a little lightheaded…great. The teenager forced a tense smile. "Cheerful," he commented, reaching for the bottle of disinfectant and reluctantly pouring it directly onto (_in_to) the slash. His breath hitched when it made contact and he squeezed the bottle until it almost burst. Suddenly it was torn from his hand and laid back on the table.

"Here." Six, who had already finished with his own injury surprisingly quickly, turned his attention to Rex's, bandaging it tightly. "You're going to need stitches, but that will do for now," he informed the adolescent before turning around and striding from the room. His ankle was still hurting badly, but he had enough firsthand battlefield experience to know exactly how to favor it so that it didn't slow him down.

"Where're we going?" Rex asked, following him into the hallway just as the base lurched again and another unseen explosion was triggered.

"We need to find Holiday – and I suppose the monkey – and then get to the main communications room to radio for help."

'_Holiday_.' The tan teen swallowed down the lump that rose in his throat. "Six?" he said softly. The man paused and looked at the adolescent over his shoulder. "You don't think the doc was, you know…killed, do you?" For a minute, Six thought of the scared little kid Rex had been when he first found him and how vulnerable he had seemed. Then he remembered how not a month later he had saved the agent's life and the look of determination in his eyes as he attacked the Evo that had Six in its giant claws. Rex was still just a terrified little kid on the inside, yes…but he was also still damn good at protecting the people he cared about. Better even.

The stoic man hesitated only a moment before answering, "You're old enough to know the odds," then started walking brusquely down the hall again, leaving Rex standing alone. The young Evo attempted to beat down the rising panic as he thought of Holiday's sweet, smiling face. What if he never saw it again? What if she was lying somewhere in the base right now, alive and in pain, and they didn't get to her in time? What if she was already dead? Rex tried to remember the premise of the last conversation they had had and drew a total blank. What was the last thing he said to her, the last thing she said to him? What was—?

"Rex!" The cross shout brought him back to reality, forcing him to leave his panicked thoughts alone for the time being. Six had backpedaled and was now standing directly in front of Rex with his hands placed on the youth's shoulders. Rex vaguely wondered how long Six had been trying to get his attention.

"I'm…sorry, Six. I was just thinking—" Rex was cut off by a third explosion – this one louder and closer than previous two – as the airship lurched violently and threw them both to the ground. Six landed roughly on top of Rex, propped up on his arms and knees and remained there – acting as a sort of shield – while the ship shook unstably and pieces of the cracked ceiling rained down on them. Rex stared up into his protector's face, which was only inches from his own, and blushed at the close proximity. Luckily for him, Six's eyes – from what he could tell with his shades in the way – were squeezed shut, so he couldn't see the light pink dusting.

A large piece of sheetrock hit Six squarely between his shoulder blades – knocking him down completely, with his head landing on Rex's left shoulder – just before the shaking stopped.

"You…okay?" Rex asked into the strangely loud silence that followed as Six slowly pushed himself off his charge.

"Fine," he grunted, rolling his shoulders. Rex saw his nostrils suddenly flair as he tested the foul air. "We need to move." Six grabbed Rex off the ground by his arm and took off down the hallway. Rex was trying to determine what had happened while they ran when he smelled it. '_Smoke_.'The teen had smelled it earlier, but not this strongly. '_Not good…_'

Six and Rex ran through corridor after corridor, room after room, doorway after doorway with out pausing for thought or to determine where they were going. Six seemed to know where their friends were and Rex wasn't questioning. Until they reached the main communications room, that is.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rex asked, "We _don't _haveHoliday _or _Bobo."

"I know," Six pushed Rex through the door, "Send out a distress call while I go find them."

"Wait!" Rex grabbed Six roughly by his arm before the automatic door had a chance to close. "No way are you going alone!"

Another explosion was heard as the ship pitched again. "Rex, we don't have time for this!" Six jerked away and took off down the debris-ridden hallway, ignoring Rex's shouts that 'he could be killed' and 'he had no idea where Holiday or Bobo even were so he needed help' and 'of the two of them _he_ was the only one who knew how to make a freaking distress call'.

Exasperated, the young Evo boy turned heel and bolted to the miraculously still intact communication system. He _was_ a little hesitant to approach it as bad as it was sparking, though. The absolute _last _thing he needed right then was to catch on _fire_. '_Speaking of fire…_' Rex thought, smelling the smoke even more strongly than before. With a determined nod of his head, the Evo got to work.

After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Rex finally got the overly complicated machine up and running. He tapped his short fingernails against the desk anxiously as he waited for someone to answer. _"Hello?"_

'_Thank God._'

"I'm on Providence's main aerial-base," Rex said, skipping the pleasantries, "We were on our way back to base when someone shot us down. The ship's on fire, slowly blowing up _and_ there are a lot of dead agents as well as injured ones. We need immediate assistance."

"_What is your location?"_ the voice on the other end crackled.

"Well, uh, I…" Rex made a sound that could only be described as a growl. "Dammit, I don't _know_! Can't you just lock onto my biometric signature or whatthefuckever?"

"_Who is this?"_

"This is Rex. You know, as in White Knight's favorite little _non_expendable _'weapon' _that he wouldn't be too pleased with loosing?"

The line was silent for a minute. _"We've got a lock on your coordinates. Help will be there soon." _With that the connection went dead.

Rex turned around and leaned back against the table. _'Come on, Six. Where are you?' _He ran a gloved hand through his ebony colored hair, knocking his orange goggles off his head unintentionally. They landed with a quiet thud on the desk behind him, where they continued to lay as Rex simply didn't care enough to pick them up at the moment; they were _far_ from foremost on his mind right then. Another blast rang out, making Rex worry even more than he already was. And that was saying a _lot_.

The frazzled teen was just about to go out to look for Bobo, Holiday _and _Six (again) when the door opened and said agent charged in carrying an unconscious Holiday in his arms bridal style with a limping Bobo at his side. "Fuck," Rex swore under his breath when he caught sight of the doctor. He could see blood soaking through her orange top, going through to stain her normally clean pressed, white lab coat a sick crimson color. She had large, dark scorch marks on her face and from what the youth could tell third-degree burns on her hands and wrists. The sleeves of her lab coat where burned – made evident by the ripped material coated in grey-black soot – and both of her knees had gory-looking abrasions on them.

"Tell me a Providence jet is on its way," Six said stiffly as he came to a stop in front of the stunned boy. Anyone who didn't know the agent exceedingly well wouldn't have noticed a change from his normal behavior, but to Rex and even Bobo it was obvious: he was worried out of his mind.

"I…" Rex trailed off, the lump in his throat making it hard to talk. No; he didn't cry before and he wouldn't cry now. Crying still didn't help, still didn't solve their problems. Swallowing hard, the young Evo managed to say somewhat sturdily, "I got through to base and the guy on the communication line said he had locked onto me. He said that– that, uh, help would be here soon…"

Something else exploded and for all he was worth Rex could've sworn it was in the next room over. Suddenly, there was a loud grinding sound followed by violent quaking as the entire base began to slowly tilt. "We need to get out of here," Six stated, heading for the door he only seconds before walked in through.

"Don't hafta tell me twice," Bobo said as he and Rex started after the agent.

"You know where the nearest exit is?" Rex checked as the three of them – four if you counted Holiday – made there way down the rapidly titling corridors.

"More-or-less," Six confirmed.

"I was really hoping you'd be sure…"

"Shit," Six swore suddenly just as the base paused in its leaning.

"Well, I guess we ain't goin' that way no more," Bobo chuckled grimly. In front of the trio (quartet?) was the quickest path to an exit. Regrettably, said path was blocked by the source of the smoke they'd been smelling. About halfway down the hall the ceiling had collapsed and a large machine had fallen through to this floor, catching fire and spreading it to the entire corridor and then farther north.

Holiday unexpectedly groaned and gave a weak cough. "You're awake!" Rex cheered, relief dripping from his words.

"What's going on?" she asked, wincing horribly as she tried to move.

"Hold still," Six chastised gruffly, "You're badly wounded."

Holiday looked up at the agent and, realizing she was in his arms, blushed deeply. The scientist cleared her throat loudly and said, surprisingly strongly in her current condition, "We were shot down and I was knocked unconscious; this is clear. Now, what is our current situation?"

"We were heading for the exit because this whole place is about to blow," Rex informed her.

"But there's kinda a roadblock," Bobo finished, pointing up ahead at the fire.

"Where's the nearest exit?" Six asked, knowing Holiday played a major part in the design of this ship. Rex pulled a Six original and quirked an eyebrow at being disillusioned to the thought that the man already knew where the nearest exit was.

Quickly, the injured woman assessed their surroundings. "There's another one very close. Just go down that hall," she pointed at the left corridor, "and then hook a right. There's an emergency hidden exit built into the floor that'll drop us straight down—"

Holiday was cut off as the airbase tilted violently again and they all had to fight to keep their footing, causing Six to almost drop the pained woman. "_Why _is the base tilting?" she asked once it had stopped for the moment.

"We're not really sure," Rex answered as they quickly headed down the path the doctor had dictated. Once they reached the hidden exit, however, they were horrified to find it locked.

"I don't understand," Holiday half-yelled worriedly. "That door should _never _be locked. It is always open."

"Don't worry," Rex reassured her. "I'll take care of it." The teenager pressed his hand to the door, causing glowing blue lines to consume both his arm and the locked exit just before it swung outward. "Uh, guys? I know why the base keeps tilting."

"What'cha mean, chief?" Bobo asked as he walked up behind Rex. "Whoa." The chimp whistled before laughing morosely. "We went down in a swamp."

"Meaning…" Holiday trailed off, thinking. "The base isn't tilting exactly, its sinking."

"And we need to make sure we don't go down with it," Six said determinedly.

"We're up way too high; there's no way can you guys make that jump. Let me go down first and then I'll fly you to the ground." Without waiting for a response from anyone, Rex jumped through the opening, falling halfway to the shallow murk below before producing mechanical wings from his back. "Okay," he called, flying as close as possible to the open hatch. "Toss me Holiday first."

"Toss had better be a figure of speech," the doctor mumbled as Six gently handed her off to Rex. She did her best to hide a grimace at the movement.

"Alright, Six. You need to grab Bobo and jump down onto my Boogie Pack*," Rex ordered.

"That's what you call it?" Six raised an eyebrow at the teen for the second time in thirty minutes.

"Just jump!"

Six complied, grabbing the chimp and hopping down onto one of Rex's wings, then attempting to not fall off as the boy flew unsteadily to the ground a few feet away. Not long after the rough landing, a Providence hover-jet arrived next to them, opening it's doors and releasing agents who ushered the four of them inside. Once they were safely inside, a few medbay workers took Holiday away to be treated and Rex, Bobo and Six – whose injuries were far less pressing and could wait till they were back at base – went to relax in the main passenger area.

Rex let out a sigh of relief as he sank into a metal chair and shut his eyes. "Comfy," he smirked, back to his old sarcastic self, and ran a hand through his hair like he had done after sending out the distress call. Eyes snapping back open with realization, the teenager looked over at Six frantically. "I left my goggles—" Suddenly the hover-jet shook violently at the same time a large explosion was heard. Upon looking out the window, Rex and Agent Six saw the aerial base – half sunken into the murky waters of the bog – explode into a giant mushroom shaped cloud of smoke and flames. "—in the communications room…"

Six reached over and gave Rex a pat on his shoulder. "Better your goggles than you," he mumbled, still staring out the window. Rex raised his head from where it had drooped in depression to look at the agent, a smile slowly spreading across his tanned face. Did Six just sort of admit to caring about him?

"Um, hey, Six?"

The agent looked away from the window at him. "Yes, Rex?" he asked, waiting for something important or at the very least sincere based on the kid's serious expression. In an instant, however, that deep expression was replaced with a sly grin.

"You're getting me new ones." Six sighed. Why had he expected anything different?

* * *

"Agent Six?"

The stoic man looked up from the paperwork he was having to file on the airbase being destroyed the day before. Captain Callan was standing at the door to Six's office, looking like he was about to break the news to a four-year-old that her mother had been murdered by her father. "Callan," he acknowledged. "What do you need?"

"I was told to report to you about the airship's destruction. We discovered who attacked it; or rather, _what_ attacked it."

The green clad agent's eyebrow went up, stating for the captain to continue.

"Well, first, it wasn't shot down as was originally thought." Six crumpled one of the pages he had typed up and printed off, almost making Callan smile. "It was massive system failure that brought the base down. This failure was caused by a computer with intelligence to match that of a human: ZAG-RS, as I believe it is called."

Six's eyes widened behind his sunglasses as he recognized that name as the computer that wanted to wipe out all humans. "I thought Rex destroyed it."

"So did we, but when we asked him he said that it managed to escape and download to a new system. Ours as we have just discovered."

Six shook his head, remembering the locked exit door and realizing ZAG-RS must have wanted to make sure they didn't escape. "It hacked into our system."

"Yes, and we can't remove it."

"Great," Six breathed sarcastically. "The thing that wants to wipe out the human race via nanites has complete control of Providence."

"One last thing, by the end of today you and Dr. Holiday are ordered by White to take Rex far from Providence base. There is an underused minor-base in the outskirts of Pennsylvania that doesn't have systems linked to the rest of Providence. That is where you are all to remain until further notice."

"Why?"

"You need to keep Rex far from ZAG-RS.".

"Because?" Six pressed.

Callan sighed. "It has found a way to take complete control of Rex by use of the Providence technical structure. You see, once Rex was finished receiving stitches in the medbay he suddenly went on a crazed rampage. The doctors were able to sedate him and while he was under they determined that ZAG-RS had been in control of his mind and thereby body. It has something to do with his being – in a way – part machine. Luckily, when he woke up ZAG-RS was no longer in control."

Six merely nodded his head, not showing how taken aback he really was.

"That _cannot _happen again, Six. It is far too dangerous; Rex had absolutely no control whatsoever of actions. And – since I know you'll ask – the scientists are all one hundred percent sure he couldn't break free."

"How?"

Callan blew out a breath of air, knowing what he was about to say made it definite that Rex couldn't take back control. It never would've happened if he could. Just as the captain was about to fill Six in though, Bobo walked into the room and beat him to it. The monkey's words stunned Six more than he ever would've shown.

"Rex almost killed Holiday."

* * *

And…SCENE! Dun…dun…_dun_. :)

I just pulled, like, an R. L. Stein _or something._ O.o IDK, when I was little I was really into his books and they always ended with some kind of make-you-pull-your-frickin-hair-out-it-drives-you-so-damn-crazy cliffhanger. Which was pretty much what I just did there…

Okay, anyway, the end (not the epilogue) was where this fic really started because I originally had a freaky dream with that ending goggles scene and had to write a fic about it. Then I re-watched some _GR _episodes and started thinking about how no one was really sure where ZAG-RS re-downloaded to. So, why not make her take control of Providence. Hehe! That was kind of a surprise twist, huh? ^.^

**READ ME! YOU MUST READ ME EVEN IF YOU IGNORE EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE ENTIRE A/N… Are you reading? Okay, good! ^o^: **I'm leaving this open but at the moment this is a one-shot. Who thinks I should make this into a chapter story? Tell me if you review because by, I don't know, next Saturday probably I'm either changing the status to complete or starting work on an update. I kind of have an idea of what to do with the plot, but its not one of those 'mustwrite, mustwrite, mustwrite before I _explode_' kind of things. (**EDIT:** IT IS NOW A CHAPTER STORY EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT YET THE DEADLINE. IT WAS KIND OF A UNANIMOUS VOTE TO CONTINUE SO IT IS NOW A 26 CHAPTER FIC)

* Boogie Pack is seriously what that's called. I googled it and everything. O.o


	2. Bloodied Blade

**A/N: **I got added to a C2, that's a first for me~! ^o^ (Well, technically I now have one [the same C2, actually] for _The Providence Chronicles_ too, but this one was my first. Yayz!)

Well, all of you who reviewed said continue, so here I am with a shiny new chapter. Shiny, shiny. *Breach Moment* I hope you all like this next installment. ^o^ Also, I have decided to make this where the chapters go according to the alphabet. Like chapter one was Absolute Anarchy because ZAG-RS overthrew Providence's systems which is like overthrowing the government in this story. And this chapter is Bloodied Blade because…well, you'll see… ;) I do not have titles for chapters three or four, yet. I'm leaning towards Catastrophic Chaos for three and Demented Dolls for four. Yes, chapter four does involve Breach. I LOVE YOU BREACH! XD *fangirl scream usually reserved for Agent Six only…or maybe Rex…and okay once I did it for Noah…hum…*

(**Note for Something that Won't Make Sense Until You Read the Chapter, but that I Wanted You to Read Before the End of the Chapter:** Picayune Base was chosen for the Pennsylvanian base name because picayune means unimportant, but because it is the only place for Providence's most important 'weapon' to stay safe, this base is very important. In the episode "Frostbite," Paradise Base was purgatory, whereas Purgatory Base was a paradise. All bases seem to be named the opposite of what they really are so that was why I did that. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, purgatory means "an extremely uncomfortable, painful, or unpleasant situation or experience; a place of suffering." =D)

* * *

Bloodied Blade

The entire experience had been horrifying.

Rex had been completely aware of everything he was doing – every scientist he knocked through every wall and every machine he destroyed with every strike he delivered – but he couldn't stop himself. It was a terrible feeling; knowing you had no control over your own actions. Even though he tried so hard to regain control over what he did and said (not that he was being made to say much), ZAG-RS was too strong. That's why he could do nothing but noiselessly scream as the AI morphed his hand into a giant orange and black sword. Nothing but hate himself as the sword was brought down on a nearly defenseless Dr. Holiday. He thanked the gods that she'd been able to move enough out of the way that all it did was stab through her upper thigh. But that scream…

The scream she'd let out as it penetrated her skin and muscle and even bone would live in his head forever. A permanent reminder of what he'd allowed to happen, of what could happen again. She'd asked him why he was doing this, then begged him to stop as ZAG-RS twisted the blade sadistically before slowly bringing it out. Sticky crimson blood dripped from the weapon – and _poured_ from her wound – as ZAG-RS positioned it over the injured doctor's head. "Please, Rex!" she'd begged, tears flowing freely from her moss-green eyes. Just as the blade began it's decent someone hit Rex in the side of the head with a broken pipe that had been torn from the wall during the brawl, successfully knocking him unconscious.

He later – once he'd woken up completely back in control of his body – learned that it was Captain Callan who had saved Holiday, but that was all anyone had told him before leaving him alone in the medbay room. As soon as all of the doctors and scientists were gone he leapt from his bed and ran through the halls to his bedroom, sealing his door via his nanites so that no one could open it. Bobo had tried unsuccessfully to get Rex to unlock the door about an hour into his self-inflicted lockdown. "Chief, if I don't get in there and get some beauty sleep, you're the one that's gonna be sorry," the Evo'd chimpanzee had yelled through the door, hoping to make the kid loosen up a little and maybe even laugh. No such luck. After ten more minutes and a multitude of failed shots at getting the door open, Bobo just gave up and went to the kitchen to find some grub.

A few of the other agents stopped by and tried to get the door open, making threats and barking out trash about being the teenager's commanding officers when they didn't get anywhere. Rex just buried his head deeper under his bedcovers and ignored them; he only had two commanding officers and one of them was on the brink of death thanks to him (and might even loose her leg if it was really as bad as it looked) while the other was God knew where probably filling out paperwork on the incident. One scientist who came to his door mentioned something about leaving for a base in Pennsylvania with Holiday and Six and that he needed to pack. Having no idea why they would be going to Pennsylvania, but not wanting to get near Dr. Holiday again, Rex ignored the order, opting instead to remain in his bed. He'd decided hours ago that nothing would get him out of that room.

Not even whatever idiot was knocking on his door now.

* * *

Providence base held a sort of horror movie feel to it at night.

That was something Agent Six had taken silent note of on his first night there, almost five years ago. There weren't any lights on anywhere and everything was deathly silent, except for in the labs of course. The labs were always up and running, no matter what time it was. Right then, Six was far from the labs, standing in a soundless hallway in front of a certain teenaged Evo's room. This teenager had been locked in this room for nearly seven hours and now it was time for him to leave for Pennsylvania with Agent Six and Dr. Holiday, so said agent had to go drag him out.

The agent let his knuckles connect with the metallic door twice and then waited. However, as he somewhat expected, there was no reply. "Open the door, Rex" he beckoned stoically.

"Six?" came a dejected – and somewhat shocked – voice that cracked like it hadn't been used in a while.

"Yes, its me. Now, I'll repeat: Open the door."

"Just– just go away," the response was quiet and detached, so much so that the green-clad man almost didn't hear it.

"I can't do that, Rex," the agent responded dryly, "Let me in."

"_I _can't do _that_, Six."

Six shook his head, even though the adolescent couldn't see, trying to think of the best way to handle his current situation. Give him a bomb that had to be transported across a battlefield within it's detonation time of twenty seconds and he could do it with no problem, but give him _any _social situation and he was damn screwed. "Dr. Holiday isn't with me," he attempted, "and you and I both know that even if ZAG-RS does manage to take control of you again before we leave you won't be able to land a single hit on me." There was a long moment of silence before the door finally slid open, revealing a disheveled-looking Rex wearing only a navy blue T-shirt and baggy black shorts.

"'_Before_ we leave?'" he asked, the slightest hint of hysteria lacing his voice. This was a very good example of why distressed teenagers shouldn't be left alone with their thoughts. "You mean for Pennsylvania? Well, what about _after_ we leave?" he continued, red-rimmed eyes widening. "Huh? What about while we're on the way there or after we're there…? What if I hurt her again? Or Bobo? Or what if I hurt _you_? You say I couldn't land a hit on you, but you weren't there. Review the tapes, Six! If the cameras weren't completely destroyed then watch what they recorded; if they were just go look at the damage I did! Go to the medbay and see the injured agents and then go check out the morgue and look at all the dead bodies put there by _me_! _Then _tell me that I can't hurt you!" By the time he was finished Rex was screeching, his voice grating from the strain on his vocal cords. A few agents in the vicinity had wandered out to see what the commotion was and were now staring with the slightest bit of amusement in their eyes.

Although he didn't show it, Six felt his heart crack just a little for the scared teenager – but just a _little_, since years of locking away any and all emotion prevented anything more – for, with that slightly hysterical speech, he realized that nobody had actually explained to Rex _how_ ZAG-RS took control or that once they were at Picayune Base it couldn't happen again. Six suddenly felt spite for every other person at Providence – especially the ones staring at the boy with enjoyment at his state – aside from Holiday. The agent was sure if she were in a state to she would've explained it, but after the ship went down and then what ZAG-RS did while in possession of Rex… She could barely keep herself conscious. Hell, in the condition she was in she couldn't even give an explanation for why the sky was blue!

Six took Rex gently by the shoulders and urged him backwards into the room, keying in for the door to slide shut behind them. "Rex," he started, once the prying eyes and ears of the Providence agents were shut out, "I need you to calm down and listen—"

"And I need you to get out of here while you can still walk," Rex said softly; it wasn't a threat, more like a fearful warning. Six could tell he was fighting tears as he jerked away from the agent and turned around to face the opposite wall. "Please…" he whispered, wringing his fists so hard they shook.

Six grabbed Rex's arm – the one without the stitches – and spun him around, looking him dead in the eye when he said, "I don't need to review the tapes; I know what you did but it doesn't matter. After we're away from here, in Pennsylvania at Picayune Base, ZAG-RS won't be ableto take control of you again. That's the whole reason we're going there." Rex furrowed his brow in response.

"How do you know it won't be able to?" he asked, still trying to lean away.

"I can't explain it very well. I'm sure Holiday could, but…" The corners of Rex's mouth jerked down as his brown eyes met his bare feet. Bad direction, Six. Very bad. "Anyway," he continued hurriedly. God, this was not going well. "Basically, because you can control nanites and make yourself into machines it was able to use Providence's systems to wire into you. Picayune Base isn't connected to the rest of Providence so you'll be safe there."

"Safe… _Me_." Six was almost certain he heard a quiet scoff. "I'm not the one whose in danger. What if you're wrong? What if something happens?"

"Then I'll handle it," Six assured him, a certain power behind his words that comforted Rex. He wasn't saying he would hurt Rex, no. He was saying specifically that he would ensure _no one _was hurt. "Now," the agent went on, back to his normal all business personality and secretly hoping Rex would stop staring dejectedly at the floor because it was honestly _really _depressing, "get your bags and lets go. The hover-jet is waiting."

"Oh...right. About that…" Rex laughed nervously, a little bit back to his normal self, but not by much, "I…haven't exactly packed yet." The nervous laughter continued while Six's eyes narrowed at the slowly rising head. The glare softened as he caught sight of the sad eyes, long over the hysteria and onto just plain old depression.

"I was informed that a scientist was sent to notify you of what to do," he said, trying hard to keep a scolding bite to his tone.

"Well, yeah. A guy stopped by and said that, but…" Rex shrugged, not meeting the agent's eyes.

Six heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. _Naturally, _he thought as he began to walk towards Rex's closet. Looks like he would be helping, or else it would be half an hour – half an hour they didn't have – before Rex was ready to go. "Do you even have a suitcase?" he asked upon searching for and not finding one.

"I never needed one. Think you could loan me one of yours?" The nervous laughter was back. "Please?"

Oh, boy.

* * *

Providence's second best scientist – second only to Dr. Holiday – had found a way to momentarily sever all technological ties between Providence's main technical structure and that of the hover-jet that was currently transporting Agent Six, Dr. Holiday, Rex and Bobo to Picayune Base. This was something the agent, as well as Dr. Moraino, had had to reassure the teenager of more than once. Now, as they were suspended more than fifty thousand feet in the air, Agent Six found himself reassuring the troubled teen yet again.

"Its guaranteed? You're a hundred percent sure?" Rex asked for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, Rex," Six pinched the bridge of his nose for the second time that day to combat an oncoming headache, "If you want to go see Holiday you may do so."

"Its just… You know… Okay, dude, I really hate to ask this but would you go with me?" Rex asked in one breath, looking away.

"What?" the green-clad agent asked incredulously.

"Just in case something goes wrong, Holiday will at least have some protection. Unless you don't want to, because I mean I really don't want to put you in any danger. Its just its really hard to actually make contact with you in a fight and like you said I probably couldn't land a hit, so…"

Six considered arguing that nothing would go wrong, but decided it would be easier to just walk to the room and stand there for a little while. "Fine," he consented as he stood from his seat on the uncomfortable bench and began a fast-paced walk toward Dr. Holiday's room. Rex struggled to keep up with the agent, but at the same time he fought to catch up he made sure there was at least a yard between them at all times. When the two of them walked in to the medical room the good doctor appeared to be sleeping, her bright green eyes shut and her chest rising and falling ever-so-slowly. Most of her body was covered by a white sheet, preventing Rex from seeing the damage he'd done, but he still felt a pang of guilt as he gazed at the scientist.

The teenager made a move towards the slumbering woman before jerking back like he'd walked into an invisible wall of fire. He turned large, doe-brown eyes on Six, pleading something. "I'm not a mind reader, Rex," the stoic agent reminded him. Rex looked back and forth between the two people.

"I just…" he trailed off, shaking his head violently. "This was a bad idea. I need to get out of here." He wrapped his arms around himself tightly and looked away from everyone, staring up to his left at the one flickering light on the ceiling. Wait…flickering?

"Alright, let's go." Six started to walk out of the room, but Rex grabbed his arm to stop him. As soon as he realized what he'd done he retracted his hand and backed away quickly. For a minute, Six wanted to tell Rex that he didn't have to shy away from everyone like they had the plague, but decided against it, opting instead to raise a brow in question as to why he'd been stopped.

"The lights are flashing. Do you think…?" Six looked up in response to the trailed away statement – something Six had noticed about Rex when he was only twelve, he has a habit of not finishing his sentences when he's upset – to see that it was correct.

"There must be a technical glitch," he said, worrying vaguely about whether or not ZAG-RS had found a way around the technical disunite, but not showing it. Why make Rex fret anymore than he already was? "I'll go check it out."

Rex scurried after the agent as he walked brusquely from the room and down hallways with flickering lights just like the one in the medical room Dr. Holiday was in. They reached the control room quickly, since the hover-jet they were in wasn't exactly 'large', and found the pilot sitting calmly in his seat, steering the jet. Six was tempted to make Rex wait outside, but in the long run if ZAG-RS really had managed a way into the hover-jet, Rex would need to know. "Report," Agent Six stated suddenly and piercingly, successfully drawing the man's attention.

"On what, sir?" he asked, turning his masked face around briefly to glance at the two people behind him.

"Anything unusual."

The man appeared to think for a minute before replying, "Everything is functioning properly, sir. You'll have to specify; is there a problem somewhere?"

"The lights are flickering on and off all over the ship, though they've stopped for the moment."

"Oh, yes. I noticed that. We've flown into a storm, but it shouldn't pose a threat."

"I heard 'shouldn't', not 'won't'. You need to insure that things go smoothly, understand?" Six tilted his head so that the lights glinted across his glasses to give the effect of a person's eyes flashing dangerously. He was secretly relieved that it was just a storm, whether it was an uncertainty or not, but refused to show it.

"Will do," the Providence pilot responded, flipping a few switches on the control panel to his right before taking the aircraft down a few thousand feet. Agent Six seemed to be satisfied with this and turned on his heel, not even looking back to see if Rex was following him as he exited the room.

He was, of course.

* * *

**A/N: **Okie dokie guys. Sorry this was so short. Well, I mean, it was 2,621 words which is kind of not-so-short. However chapter numero uno was almost 5,000 so compared to that and what I usually do it was short. The next one won't be, though. I think… Well, we can hope, right? =3 Remember, the more reviews I get the more motivated I am to write and the faster the updates come.


	3. Cleared Conscience

**A/N: **Well, here we are again my little pretties. And yes, I did change the summery because honestly that was written for when this was just a one-shot. Meaning: it was _really _misleading. And yes, this will have Reach (Breach/Rex) and Holix (Holiday/Six) in later chapters. Breach enters in chapter four, but the Reachness starts around nine and Holixness will be around ten. There are hints leading up to the actual stuff, but nothing really big. So, yeah, a while off, but it will be there. And it will be EPIC. O.o (I hope.)

While I'm here, you know how that giant orange sword is called BFS? Well, I assumed it stood for Big _Fat_ Sword, but I read somewhere it actually stands for Big _Fucking_ Sword. Lovely, huh? I think when they made it into a cartoon (you know, from the comic) they changed it because the F word isn't something Cartoon Network can say. XD

* * *

Cleared Conscience 

"We're here," Agent Six declared, suddenly popping his head into the small room Rex and Bobo had stayed in for most of the flight.

Rex raised his head slowly, blinked a few times and gawped at the agent standing in the doorway. "Already?" he asked, standing up from the metal floor and stretching. His back popped loudly with the movement, but he didn't seem to care.

"We've been flying for nearly seven hours," Six informed him, adjusting the backpack slung over his shoulder and mentally wincing at the sound.

"Really?" Rex deadpanned. "That long?"

"Kid's been kinda zoned out," Bobo supplied in response to the agent's befuddled stare, standing from his perch in the corner and gathering what little luggage he brought along.

Rex picked up his own bags and followed Bobo as he walked out into the hallway to join Six. "Hey, is Holiday awake?" he asked nervously, tucking his bottom lip under his teeth.

"Barely," was Six's curt answer as he began walking. "She's heavily medicated, so don't be surprised if she's a little…out of it. So to speak."

Rex exchanged a glance with Bobo. Out of it? They were both still pondering what that might mean when the trio walked through a doorway into the offloading area and got their answer.

The agent that had been piloting the jet stood near the exit carrying Dr. Holiday's luggage, since she herself clearly could not. The good doctor was seated in a wheelchair next to him with a pink blanket covering her legs – her _two_ legs, Rex noted, thankful that she hadn't lost the one he'd punctured – and a drunken expression on her pallid face. Her full lips were parted slightly and drained of all color and her normally bright green eyes were dulled in their shade and half closed. Her usually luxurious brown hair now hung limply around her face, not having been styled or even brushed that day. Her regular clothes were replaced with a beige trench coat, hanging open to reveal an orange tank top beneath. Rex could just make out the beginning of a black silk skirt beneath that and under the blanket he could see her bare toes, just as pale as her face.

He wanted two things right then. The first was to throw up from knowing he did that, or that ZAG-RS did it but he couldn't stop it. The second was to run over to her and pull her into a hug, tell her how sorry he was and that it was all going to be okay. But he didn't dare do either. Because 1) throwing up was gross and 2) she looked too fragile, too breakable and so he settled for walking over and taking her pale right hand in his darker ones. Her eyes flitted upwards and her full lips curled into a grim smile. They opened briefly, like she was going to say something, but then shut again.

Six walked over, taking the doctor's luggage from the pilot and nodding for him to be on his way back to the control room. "We'd better get inside," he told his companions as he gripped the handlebars of the chair, "That storm we flew through will be here soon."

Holiday's brow furrowed suddenly. "We flew…through…a storm?" she asked quietly, licking her lips when she was through. Even her tongue seemed too pale.

"Briefly," Six answered, beginning to push her through the exit door and down the ramp.

"Were…there any…prah…prob?"

"Problems? No, just the lights going on and off. Nothing too bad." Six gazed down at her drained expression and felt a sudden but urgent need to bring a small light to it. "Unless, of course, you're afraid of the dark." As hoped for, she smiled and a brief warmth entered her eyes just before they came to a stop in front of Picayune Base.

"Whoa!" Bobo exclaimed as Six unlocked the door. "Did you just crack a joke?"

Somewhere behind them the hover-jet took off and flew away. "It happens occasionally," the agent responded offhandedly.

"Not around me."

Six glanced down at him, a look that said 'now think about that' playing on his features.

The chimp grunted and walked into the base behind the agent and half knocked out doctor.

Rex lingered outside, gazing up at the rather unsettling building. He shuddered, though he wasn't sure if it was from the chill in the air or the feeling the base forced down his throat and straight into his partially deadened soul. Honestly, the thing looked frighteningly similar to a medieval castle, only it was made of what looked like titanium. _Clashy_, was the word that came to mind, though he was eighty percent sure it wasn't a _real_ word. Finally, he walked inside the huge edifice...and immediately regretted it.

"Geez!" the teen cried out as soon as he walked through the door and the horrible smell inside hit him. "How long has it been since anybody was here?"

"Two or…three years," Dr. Holiday murmured, eyes sliding shut. "White…consider…ing…" Her brown furrowed again.

Six, understanding what the woman was trying to say, decided to finished her sentence for her. "White was considering demolishing it."

"Guess it's a good thing he didn't," Bobo grunted, pinching his nose shut.

"Yeah," Rex agreed heartily, trying not to start coughing up a lung. "But would it have killed him to use an air-freshener?"

"Six…?" Holiday said weakly, ignoring Rex's comment. "I'm tired…I need…rest…need _to_…rest…Get…be…bet…" Again, she furrowed her brow and ran her tongue along her lips. The meds they'd given her must've been messing with her speech.

"Better," Six supplied and she nodded in confirmation. "I only visited this base once, a long time ago, but I think I remember where the bedrooms are."

He did, as it turned out, because he went right to them. Rex tried to map it out in his head as he followed, but got lost somewhere along the way. Go down the hallway to the left, then make a right on the second corridor on the left side, then go through the fourth door down on the right side and take the hallway directly in front of him across the room and then another left and… Well, that was where he got lost. How Six remembered was beyond the teenager.

"Ya know, I'm just curious," Bobo said as they reached the hall with the bedrooms in it. "Every other base is white, right? So, why ain't this one?"

Rex blinked. He hadn't noticed before now, but everything was a dull grey shade just like the outside walls. "I'm not sure," Six answered, opening the first door and wheeling Holiday inside. Rex noted that the air didn't smell quite as bad in the bedroom, but it still stunk like month old dog crap.

Six stopped Holiday next to the bed and placed her luggage on the floor before turning the bed's covers down. After taking the pink blanket off her legs, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees before gently lifting her from the chair and placing her on the white – and surprisingly not dusty – sheets. Rex watched quietly, trying to see the wound ZAG-RS had caused to her leg before the man covered her back up, but the silk skirt came just past her knees. Oh, well. It was probably better he didn't see it.

"Six?" Rex whispered, pulling the agent away from the bed so no one else would hear. "Are you sure ZAG-RS can't—"

Six cut him off, already having replied to the same question multiple times. "Rex, we've been over this. There isn't any way for it to take control again." Rex nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Can I talk to Holiday alone, then?"

"I don't care, but make it quick because she needs to rest." Six took Rex's luggage from him and turned to the chimpanzee standing near the door. "Monkey, take this with you to the room across the hall. That's where you two will be staying."

"All these empty rooms and I still gotta share one with the kid?" Bobo complained, begrudgingly taking the extra bags.

"Like I like hearing your snoring every night?" Rex asked, scoffing. He waited till they had gone and the door had shut behind them to turn and look at the doctor. "Hey, Holiday?" he asked softly. Her eyes opened slowly and met his. She gave a weak smile.

"Yes, Rex?" she asked kindly. Too kindly.

"I'm… I'm really sorry," he told her, looking down as he was unable to look her in the eye any longer.

"Hey," she said, weakly motioning him over. He hurried over to her and took her hand. "What happened…was _not_…your fault…You did…_not_…do this; that…AI did…and I don't…wanna hear you…blame your…self. Ar…ight?"

"But I am partially at fault," Rex disagreed to her great displeasure, "I couldn't stop it from hurting you."

"No one…could've…Rex. ZAG-RS…is a powerful…ene…enemy."

Rex cracked a small smile. "It's a freaking computer program. We should just be able to crash it with a virus, but it somehow managed to bring us to our knees."

"I…did consid…consider that…idea. Crashing it…with a virus, I mean. But it…would bring Providence…down, too."

"Too bad, I'd love to see that thing _suffer_."

Holiday chuckled lightly at the malicious smile on the teen's face, but then winced as the action hurt her chest cavity. "I'm…tired, Rex. Can we…talk later?"

"Sure," he agreed, "I'll let you sleep." Before the door was even completely closed behind him, Holiday was already out like a light.

* * *

_One bed_.

There was only _one_ _freaking bed_ in the room Six had assigned Rex and Bobo to. "He has got to be kidding," the teenager grumbled as he glared at Bobo, who was sprawled out on the singular bed.

"Nope," the monkey disagreed. "He says we gotta make do. Apparently some agents got sent out here to get the first three rooms ready for us and the others ain't fit for livin'. Green Bean says the kitchen's stocked up, too."

"Fine, but I get the bed," Rex moved to the edge of the small furniture piece, "So get off."

"Not so fast there, Chief. I was here first."

"Yeah, but I'm bigger than you." Rex suddenly transformed his left hand into a singular Smackhand and lifted Bobo from the bed with ease, dropping him onto the ground. Switching his fist back to normal, Rex flopped onto the bed and sighed. For some reason, now that he'd apologized to Holiday he felt better. Funny how it was always the little things.

"And just where am I s'posed to sleep?" Bobo asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"I don't know. Go find a hammock." Rex waved his hand in dismissal and Bobo stalked from the room grumbling.

Once he was gone and the room was quiet, Rex realized how tired he was. It was probably already _way_ past midnight. Standing, he stripped down to his black boxers and climbed under the covers, letting sleep overtake him.

* * *

Rex's deep brown eyes fluttered open to meet inky darkness.

Confused, he sat up in bed and looked around. His eyes quickly adjusted and he remembered everything. He was at Picayune Base in Pennsylvania because ZAG-RS hacked into Providence and made him attack Holiday, but she was going to be okay and he had apologized. It was dark because Bobo must've turned the lights out and he had no idea why he woke up at— Rex looked around for a clock —6am.

He was just about to lay back down when he figured out what woke him.

_Crash!_

In a second he was out of bed, out of the room, and running down the hall in the direction the sound had come from. When he reached the end he stopped and looked back and forth. Which way; left or right? He couldn't afford to get lost in this place. Another crash sounded and he took off to the right. There weren't any doors on this hall, just a turn at the end of it that led to a single room without a door. From what Rex could tell, it was a shower room.

He ventured further into it. Now what had made that sound?

"Gah!" he screamed and ducked as something – was that a _sink_? – came flying at his head. He activated his Smackhands and glared at the…at the cat… He switched his hands back to normal. A cat had thrown that and made all those sounds that accompanied things getting totally trashed? _No_ _way_.

The cat hissed at Rex and brought it's black and brown tail back up. _Yes way_, he decided as that same overly large tail shot out and nearly took his head off. It was an Evo cat. And a crotchety one at that. He cried out as the tail grabbed him around the waist and threw him across the room. He landed in front of the cat and— Wait, if the cat threw him across the room from it, why was he right in front of it? And did it get smaller?

Before he had time to think about that someone grabbed him by his arm and pulled him to his feet. Looking up, he saw Agent Six standing there. From the looks of it, he'd just finished taking a shower. He was wet and wearing only his usual green dress pants and white shirt, which was hanging open. Of course he had his shades on; Rex thought he probably _slept _in them. In one hand he held a white towel that he started drying his short hair with once Rex was up.

"Uh, dude. Maybe you haven't noticed this, but there's a crazed Evo cat in here," the teenager said, watching as the cat walked away to its…self… Yeah, did he hit his head? Rex started feeling for bumps on skull.

"She's not really crazed. Just protecting her kittens," Six explained. He finished drying his hair and went to buttoning up his shirt.

You could almost hear the _click _coming from Rex's brain as he stopped checking his head. That was her kitten he landed in front of. He let out a mental sigh of relief; he was _not_ crazy. Yet. "So, should I try to cure her?"

"No. We can't take you to an offloading base until ZAG-RS has been expelled from Providence's systems. You'll need to refrain from curing Evos until then."

"Well, what do we do with her then?"

"Just leave her alone. She isn't mindless like most Evos. The only thing mutated is the tail, otherwise she's a normal cat protecting her territory."

But I heard crashing—"

"I got too close to one of the kittens."

"Oh," Rex grinned, "So, you got your butt kicked by a cat then?"

"I wasn't the one who got thrown across the room by it," Six retorted, walking away. Rex rolled his eyes; he totally got his butt kicked by it.

"Maybe staying here won't be so bad after all."

"You thought it would be?" Six asked, donning his jacket and tie.

"Well, I thought it'd be boring."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He glanced over at the cat who was now bathing her baby. "It _so_ isn't."

* * *

**A/N: **I changed the title of this chapter three times before I settled on one I liked. First is was Crotchety Carnivore (cuz cats are carnivores and this one was crotchety) then it was Culpable Conscience (cuz Rex at first felt guilty) then it was Cleared Conscience (cuz talking with Holiday cleared his conscience). XD Hope you enjoyed it. I know it seemed kind of…IDK. _Boring_. But it was crucial that Rex apologize so he would mope less. He still is a little upset by it though. But that evens out later. And then gets brought back up by a certain jackwad. XD Read on my pretties. Read on. And review! You shoth get cupcakes if you do!


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